WEST VIRGINIA (WOAY) – The weekly drought monitor was updated today, it continues to show severe drought across southern West Virginia.
According to the U.S. drought monitor, there were some improvements across western and northern portions of West Virginia; however, southern West Virginia saw no changes. The recent rain earlier this week helped the drought from getting worse but wasn’t enough to see any improvements.

Portions of every county in our viewing area are experiencing a severe drought, while the rest are seeing a moderate drought.
According to the National Weather Service, our area would need to receive 6-12″ of rain to completely erase the drought.
The map below compares last week’s drought update to this week.

The state of West Virginia is still under a state of emergency, but the burn ban was lifted. Between October 1 and December 31, from 5 pm to 7 am, it is illegal to burn outdoors.